Lightning-rod



(No Model.)

o. F. HILL.

LIGHTNING ROD.

,520. Patented Apr. 19, 1887.`

N. PETERS Fhalo-Lchugnphnr, washington D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. HILL, OF HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA.

`LIGHTNING-ROD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,520, dated April 191 1887.

Application filed May 28, 1885. Serial No. 166,961. (No model.)

.To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. HILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hazleton, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Lightning- Rods, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to construct a strong and cheap lightning-rod having good conducting properties, and this object I attain in the manner which I will now proceedto describe, reference being had to the accompanying. drawings, in which- Figure l is a side view of a lightning-rod constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the upper end of the rod; and Fig. 3, a vertical section of the lower end of the rod, also on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4. is an enlarged sectional viewillustrating the manner of couplingthe sections of the outer rod together.

The shell of my improved lightning-rod consistsof a number of sections, A, of wroughtiron tubing, preferably galvanized, these sections being of any convenient length, and being connected together by the ordinary screwcouplings, A', Fig. 4. The lowest section projects below the surface of the ground m to any desired extent and is of larger diameter than the upper sections of the rod, so as to present a large surface in contact with the earth.

The rod has an internal conductor, B, preferably in the form of a wire, strip, or rope, of-

copper, connected at the upper end to the finial D, which is secured to the top of the rod, the lower end of the said internal conductor being coiled around the outside of .the embedded lower section of the rod, as shown in Figs. I

- and 3, so as to furnish a good earth-connection.

It is well known that the ability of a light- -ning-rod to conduct and discharge electricity depends in a great measure upon the condition of the earth inwhich the rod is embedded, andvarious planshave been devised for moistening the earth around the lower end of the rod, the maintenance of amoist body of earth at the ground end of the conductor being considered 'essential to the proper performance of its duty by the said conductor.` In order to effect this moistening of the earth at and near the ground end of the conductor, I place upon the tubular rod, at any desired point, preferably near the upper-end of the same, watereollectin g vessels,which are in communication with the interior of the tube, so that rain, dew, or other moisture collected by said vessels is conveyed directly to the embedded lower end of the rod, from which it can escape at the end and through lateral perforat-ions, as shown in Fig. 3.

In the present instance the water-collecting vessels form ornaments upon the rod and comprise an upper cup-shaped vessel, E, and hollow spheres F, the latter having upwardly-inclined anges a, any water collected by which is directed through openings b to the interior of the sphere, from which it passes through openings d to the interior of the tubular rod, similar openings, d', being formed in the rod for the passage of the water collected inl the cup E.

The internal conductor, B, should of course be of such size as not to interfere with the free passage of water through the tubular rod A.

Not only does the tubular rod with its central core form a conductor of large superficial area, but the provision for collecting water and conveying the same through the rod to the lower end of the latter insures the maintenance of the best possible ground-connection for the rod, and thusincreases the efficiency of the latter.

I am aware that cup-shaped vessels have been applied to hollow lightning-rods for the purpose of collecting water, which passes to the interior of the rod and descends the same, so as to moistenthe earth at the foot of the rod; but such cup shaped vessels afford receptacles for the lodgment of leaves and dirt and soon become clogged, so as to fail to perform their proper duty. A closed vessel, however, having a collecting-flange of contracted area around the same is not open to this objection.

TWhile it is preferred to use a finial at the top of the rod and to connect the internal conductor thereto, the rod may, if desired, be closed by a cap at the top and the internal conductor may be connected to said cap.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, in a lightning-rod, of a tubular shell, with an interior conductor having its lower end coiled around the outside of IOO the embedded portion of the rod to give a good pass to the interior of the vessel, said vessel earth-oonneotion,allsubstantiallyas described. being otherwise closed, all substantially as 2. The combination, in aligbtningrod, of a specified. tubular shell open to the earth at the lower In testimony whereof I have signed my name, 5 end and having in its upper portion openings to this speoiieation in the presence of two Sub- 15 A for the passage of the Water into the interior scribing Witnesses.

of the shell with a vessel surrounding said I shell and having an external water-oolleeting Vitnesses: flange of contracted area, and openings through R. C. JONES, io which the water collected in said fiange can A. S. MUNROE.

onAs. F. niLL. 

